


Needled

by wordbending



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Belonephobia, Multi, Needles, Other, Panic Attacks, Polyamory, Queerplatonic Relationships, Rated for some light cursing, vent fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 00:57:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17908979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordbending/pseuds/wordbending
Summary: "Humans - the non-stupid ones, at least - get vaccinations all the time. It’s so we get immunity to diseases like chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, tetanus, those kind of things.”You don’t know what those words mean, but you’re focused on one thing only.“So were you scared?” you say, gently, so as not to offend them. “Of the needle?”Chara looks down towards your bed and laughs bitterly. Quietly, they murmur, “Understatement of the century.”-----Two stories about shots (no, not that kind).





	Needled

**Author's Note:**

> Please mind the tags if you have belonephobia (a fear of being injected by needles for medical purposes)!

“An… injection?” says your mother, while you can’t help but fidget uncomfortably under her grip on your shoulder. Dr. Gaster has been explaining the whole thing to you both - that you got sick last week because of Chara, that you need some kind of “shot” to prevent that. And that it’s called a “shot” because… because some kind of medicine will get shot into your arm, through a “needle.”

 _YES, YOUR MAJESTY,_ Dr. Gaster signs.

_HE NEEDS HUMAN VACCINATIONS._

_OR HE WILL BECOME ILL AGAIN._

_WHICH WOULD BE MOST UNFORTUNATE._

Your mother frowns, looking down at you. “But, surely, Dr. Gaster, he will not become sick with _human_ illnesses?”

 _MONSTERS ARE NOT IMMUNE,_ signs Dr. Gaster.

_THOUGH THEY DO NOT HAVE BLOOD…_

_VIRAL INFECTIONS CAN DISRUPT THE MAGIC THAT THEIR BODIES CONSIST OF._

_HE COULD CATCH THE FLU._

_OR_ \- he signs something else, but you can’t tell what he says, which is the second most scary thing you’ve thought about today.

 _OR EVEN_ \- again, unintelligible to you. Something to do with a chicken?

_VERY DEADLY DISEASES, EVEN TO A MONSTER._

“Then I suppose we will do this,” says Toriel. “If it is necessary. You can be brave, can you not, dearest one?”

You smile up at her. “Of course, Mom!”

* * *

You groan into your paws. “I can’t do this.”

Chara, who is wearing a mask over their mouth “for your protection”, furrows their brows.

“I can’t believe you’re getting a shot, Asriel,” they say, their voice muffled, and you cringe at the word. “I hate shots.”

You turn to them, raising your brows, because you couldn’t have _possibly_ heard them right.

“You’ve had them too?!”

Chara stares at you. “Of course I did. What are you, an idiot?” You flinch and Chara exhales sharply. “Sorry. I mean, humans - the non-stupid ones, at least - get vaccinations all the time. It’s so we get immunity to diseases like chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, tetanus, those kind of things.”

You don’t know what those words mean, but you’re focused on one thing only.

“So were you scared?” you say, gently, so as not to offend them. “Of the needle?”

Chara looks down towards your bed and laughs bitterly. Quietly, they murmur, “Understatement of the century.”

You can imagine what a scared, frightened Chara would look like, because you’ve seen it before. Many times. But you were hoping, perhaps stupidly, that they’d say something weird, like “I’m not scared of anything!”

That’s not like Chara though. You know that too.

But you’re not reassured. That means being scared is normal, which means these “shots” are something to be scared _of._

You don’t want someone “injecting” you. You don’t want a needle stuck in your arm. You try to imagine it - something big and long and sharp, like a dagger, stabbing you. You shudder and raise your knees to your chest.

“I can help you,” Chara says abruptly. “Take the shot, I mean.“

“You can?” you say softly, your voice muffled by how your knees are right over your mouth. “How?”

“I’ll be there with you,” Chara explains, and you’re struck by how sincere they’re being. You can tell they’re quietly holding back some anxiety, some nervousness, about what they’re proposing, just by the hesitant tone in their voice. “I’ll hold your… paw. Or whatever.”

They’re not sounding very Chara-like right now, you think. But that just makes you appreciate what they’re saying more.

“You’d, uh, you’d do that?” you say, still softly but a little louder. “For me?”

Chara looks mildly annoyed again, as if the answer’s obvious. “Yes.”

“I’d… I’d really like that,” you say, and not just because you really like holding their hand. You think it actually might make you less scared, somehow, to have Chara with you. After all, Chara has lots of experience with this, experience your parents don’t have! If anyone can help you not be scared, it’s Chara.

And, maybe, there’s other reasons you want Chara nearby you too. The way your soul goes crazy whenever they’re nearby, for reasons you can’t place… but you definitely can’t say _that_ to them.

“Then it’s settled,” says Chara, looking relieved. “When you take your shot, call for me, and I’ll be there.”

“OK,” you say with a relieved sigh, feeling better already. “Let’s get some sleep, Chara.”

And the two of you cuddle up together in your bed, your arms wrapped around Chara’s waist. You’re probably going to get all their germs or whatever, and get sick again, but you can’t really bring yourself to care.

Because you wouldn’t give up being with Chara for all the world.

* * *

The next day comes soon enough, and it’s already time for your appointment with Dr. Gaster. The appointment to get a shot. You gulp and go get Chara.

When you get Chara, though, Chara looks reluctant. You take their hand and you can feel their pulse in your fingers, rapid as the flap of a Whimsun’s wings.

“Are you scared?” you say, and then offer, “You don’t have to do this if you’re scared, Chara. I’m uh, pretty brave. I can handle it.”

“No offense, Asriel, but you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t believe that.”

Before you can get offended, though, and you do want to, Chara walks off, dragging you behind them. You’re pretty sure they just want to change the subject from you asking them if they were scared.

When the two of you emerge from your bedroom and head to the living room, Dr. Gaster is there, both your parents standing behind him. He’s come to your house with a suitcase, probably full of needles and other stuff like that, and he’s smiling his ever-present smile, the one that reminds you so much of Chara.

Unlike with Chara, you aren’t reassured by it. It creeps you out. Just a little.

Dr. Gaster turns their smile towards Chara, who is now hiding behind your back. They don’t really know Dr. Gaster that well yet, after all. Plus, Dr. Gaster might look kind of scary to humans - although Chara seems to be frightened by monsters pretty often. They were even scared of you at first. So maybe it’d be more true to say that monsters are scary to humans in general?

 _GOOD AFTERNOON, CHARA,_ signs Dr. Gaster.

_ARE YOU HERE TO SUPPORT YOUR FRIEND._

“Yes,” you say quickly. “They’re here to help me.”

_VERY GOOD._

_VERY, VERY GOOD._

_I AM PLEASED TO SEE SUCH GOOD FRIENDS AMONG OUR SPECIES._

_BUT I DIGRESS._

_ARE YOU AFRAID, ASRIEL?_

You look at your parents, who are smiling softly at you.

“I’m not scared,” you say, as bravely you can manage, and you squeeze Chara’s hand.

Gaster laughs softly, an echoing, hollow laugh.

_HA HA._

_OF COURSE._

_BUT IF YOU WERE AFRAID…_

_THERE IS NOTHING TO BE AFRAID OF._

_IT WILL ONLY HURT A SMALL AMOUNT._

_AND FOR MERELY A MOMENT._

You think, _But it’ll still hurt._ Chara must sense your discomfort, somehow, because they squeeze your paw.

“Asriel, dearest one,” says your mother, who must have sensed your discomfort too. “Would you like us to support you?”

“We would be glad to help in whatever way we can,” says your father.

You smile at them, although you’re not really feeling up to smiling. “No, it’s OK.” You turn towards Chara. “Chara is here with me, so I’ll be fine!”

“Very well,” says your mother. “Just tell us if you need anything.”

 _I need you to not be watching,_ you think, out of a twinge of embarrassment you can’t entirely place. Is it because you don’t want to be seen with Chara? That’s part of it, but it’s also because, if you do start crying, you don’t want to do it in front of your parents.

“Just remember, son: it’s like going to the dentist,” says your father, as he always does. And, as always, it’s very unhelpful, because you both hate the dentist and the royal dentist is _also_ Dr. Gaster. Dr. Gaster has a lot of jobs, you think.

You keep trying to be brave though, so you don’t say what you’re thinking. Instead, you watch as Dr. Gaster motions for you to sit in a chair he’s pulled out in front of him - a little wooden chair, the same chair you sit at to eat.

You sit in the chair and Chara crouches down next to you, holding your paw. They haven’t put their mask on this morning, and they look surprisingly… solemn, you think? They’re not smiling their usual smile. Their expression is instead as serious as you’ve ever seen them.

It makes you more worried than you were before.

But it’s nothing compared to when Dr. Gaster sets his suitcase on the table and opens it, finally giving you a peek inside. And what you see… are a series of long, thin, clear cylinders with even longer pointed ends, next to tiny bottles of some kind of red fluid.

And, immediately, you feel magic shoot through you, getting you ready to defend yourself. Your breath quickens. You squeeze Chara’s hand so much it must hurt.

 _Those_ are needles? They’re so big! If Dr. Gaster stabbed you with one of those, it’d go right through your arm and out the other side!

You want to get up from the chair. You want to get up and run away and hide in your room, but you can’t, you can’t, not in front of your parents. Not in front of Chara.

Before Dr. Gaster takes one of the cylinders, though, he first takes something else out of his suitcase - a small cotton swab. He glides over to you, brushes back the fur on your arm, and rubs the swab against the pink skin beneath your fur. You almost giggle. It feels funny. And wet.

Dr. Gaster then removes the swab and goes back to his suitcase. He takes one of the cylinders, a short, small one, and takes one of the bottles. Continuing to smile his ever-present smile, he takes the needle and sticks it into one of the bottles of liquid. He then pulls down the top part of the bottle thing, the little plastic-y piece at the end, and the cylinder fills with red liquid.

Somehow, the idea that he’s going to fill you - fill _your_ body - with that liquid is almost as scary as the idea of the needles. You try desperately not to start panicking. Not in front of Chara. Not in front of Chara.

Dr. Gaster turns around, practically gliding across the floor, the needle thing in one of his huge hands.

 _READY?_ he signs with one hand.

“If you’re not ready,” says Chara softly. “It’s OK. We’ll talk to your parents. We can do this again.”

You gulp. You appreciate that suggestion, and you really don’t feel ready, but… but if you didn’t do it, wouldn’t you be a huge coward? Chara says they did this lots of times. They must have dealt with their fear somehow.

“No, I’m ready,” you lie.

 _WONDERFUL,_ signs Dr. Gaster.

_YOU ARE A BRAVE CHILD._

You don’t feel brave, but you try to be. It’s normal, right? It can’t be dangerous. It can’t hurt that badly. You’ve just got to trust in Dr. Gaster and Chara and your parents.

Dr. Gaster leans down in front of you and, with his free hand, brushes back the fur over your arm, once again revealing the pink skin beneath.

Chara squeezes your hand extremely tightly as Dr. Gaster lowers the needle thing towards your arm, towards your bare skin.

And, as soon as he does, your brave face… entirely crumples.

It happens all at once. You start breathing even faster, sucking air into your body. Tears begin to roll down your cheeks. You squeeze your eyes shut. And you let out a wail, a whine.

The needle doesn’t come. You dare yourself to Dr. Gaster open your eyes again, tears continuing to flow, and see that Dr. Gaster has stopped. He looks as confused as he can possibly look.

“Ree,” says Chara firmly, apparently not caring if anyone hears their nickname for you. “Listen to the sound of my voice.”

You nod rapidly.

“Ghostbusters is a 1984 movie, directed by Ivan Reitman. It was written by… I don’t remember, but they starred in the movie. Dan Aykroyd, maybe. Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis were in it too, but you have no idea who those people are, so I don’t know why I’m telling you that.”

You’re completely baffled. “What?”

“Shut up and listen,” Chara says, and you shut up. “Also, look at me. Just look at my face while I talk.”

You do.

“Anyway, Ghostbusters fucking sucks,” Chara says.

Toriel gasps, though you’re not sure if it’s at ‘fucking’ or ‘sucks.’

“Chara,” she says. “Please watch your language.”

“Sorry,” says Chara, looking down towards the floor. “Anyway…” You keep staring at Chara’s face, at their ever-present blush, at their completely serious expression, at the way their mouth moves as they speak. “The main protagonist is a sexist as- jerk. And the antagonist is the EPA. You know what the EPA is?”

You shake your head.

“The Environmental Protection Agency. They protect wildlife, animals and plants on the surface, from being killed by corporations who’d rather our planet die out than lose a little bit of profit. The EPA are the heroes, but the movie’s too busy sucking Ronald Reagan's… uh, I mean, _hugging_ Ronald Reagan _really hard_ , to see it.”

You don’t know who ‘Ronald Reagan’ is. But even though Chara told you to shut up, you try to speak. “But, uh, Chara, what’s the point of-”

You’re suddenly interrupted by the feeling of something small and sharp piercing through your skin. You look down right away to see Dr. Gaster has taken the opportunity to stab the needle into your arm.

And it… doesn’t hurt as much as you were expecting. It hurts, but it’s more like a sharp pinch.

The very same instant you look down, Dr. Gaster pushes down on the plastic-y thing at the end of the cylinder, and the red liquid in it disappears. It must be flowing into you, but you don’t feel it at all, and only a second later, Dr. Gaster is taking the needle out of your arm.

You feel a tiny, but definitely noticeable, throbbing pain in your arm, at the spot where the needle was just in you. You can’t see the spot anymore, now that Dr. Gaster has let go of your fur, but you imagine dust flowing out of it, like when you scraped your knee going up the stairs too fast once. The very image makes you feel sick.

But… it’s over. It’s all over. Right?

“The _point,”_ says Chara smugly. “Just went into your arm.”

You can’t even glare at them for the stupid pun. You only let out a sigh of relief.

“Is that all, Dr. Gaster?” says your father.

Dr. Gaster smiles, but when is he not smiling?

_THAT IS ALL._

_ASRIEL IS SAFE FROM ILLNESS._

_BUT…_

_IF HE BECOMES SICK AGAIN…_

_PLEASE CONTACT ME AT ONCE._

“We will, Dr. Gaster,” says your mother.

You start to stand up from the chair, eager to get back a normal day with Chara, but Dr. Gaster stops you.

_WAIT._

_I MUST GIVE YOU…_

_A BAND-AID._

_IT IS PROPER PROCEDURE._

“Uh… OK,” you say. And Dr. Gaster returns to his suitcase. He takes out a package of band-aids and takes one out. It’s a bright pink one with little images of monster souls on it.

You sit impatiently as he applies the band-aid to your arm, over the spot where the needle was.

“Now can I go?” you say.

_NOW YOU MAY GO._

And you stand up out of the chair, ignoring the dull pain still in your arm, pain that gets worse whenever you move it. You instead squeeze Chara’s hand and run off, dragging them behind you.

“Chara, let’s play Monsters and Humans!”

“Only if you’re the human,” says Chara dryly.

* * *

That night, you hug Chara tightly, your arms wrapped around their waist, your chest pressed against their back.

“Thank you, Chara.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Chara says. “Perhaps you’ll do the same for me one day.”

You laugh, maybe a bit insensitively. It’s hard to imagine what you were so scared of now. You can’t even imagine what scares Chara about it, now that you know what it’s really like.

“I’m serious,” says Chara. “Who knows? It’s possible, one day, we’ll free everyone. We’ll return to the surface, and there will be all kinds of new diseases I have to get vaccinations for.”

“Like... zombies?” you say, completely sincerely.

“...No.”

“Aww. That’d be cool.”

“Yes,” says Chara. You can almost imagine them smiling, even though you’re not sure what they’re imagining. “Yes. That would be very good indeed.”

* * *

A thousand years later, you do emerge from the surface - you just have to die first, turning your bodies into dust and dirt. But eventually, you both get new bodies, powered by artificial souls and artificial hearts.

And Chara’s prediction comes true (fortunately, yours does not). Because once their new body is complete - with a heart and lungs and blood and an immune system and all the susceptibility to human diseases that comes with being a complete artificial human - they need to update their vaccinations.

“Please,” Chara had told you when you’d asked them if they were scared. “I’m not afraid of a _needle_ anymore. After all that we’ve gone through, that’s basically nothing.”

But when it’s time for Chara to go to Dr. Alphys’ lab for their vaccinations, because they’d staunchly refused to go to a _human_ doctor, you can tell that Chara is… more afraid than they’d claimed.

You can tell because you find them in your mother’s kitchen that morning, curled up under the silverware drawer. Their hands are in their hair and they’re rocking back and forth. Their breaths come out in sharp pants, while tears roll down their cheeks.

It’s the worst panic attack you’ve seen Chara have in a long, long time. Even the time they tried to get over their fear of humans by going to the human city nearby the village and had too much of a panic attack to be able to go was _relatively_ better than this. That just involved them hiding under their blanket while you and Frisk tried to talk them down.

Your mother is there, trying to soothe them, but you can tell she’s having no luck. Frisk is there too, speaking so softly to Chara that you can’t hear the words, but they’re apparently having no luck either. So it’s up to you.

“Chara,” you say gently, walking up close to them and sitting on the balls of your feet.

Chara looks up at you, their eyes wide and frantic, their pupils dilated. Slowly, they focus on you, their pupils contracting.

“Ree,” they say, feather-soft, as if they can’t believe you’re really in front of them.

“Chara,” you repeat, trying to keep them focused on you. You try to think of what to say, but what comes out almost immediately instead is light teasing. “I thought you said you weren’t scared.”

Chara looks down, away from you, their blush deepening. “Guess I was.”

“It’s fine,” you say. “I was scared of this too. Remember?”

“You don’t understand,” Chara says, pulling their knees closer to their chest. “I’m not just _scared._ I’m _terrified.”_

“So?” you say, and you’ll admit, it’s a little bratty of you.

Chara glares at you and you feel bad. “Is that what you came to do? To mock me? You’re not helping.”

Ugh. This used to be so much _easier,_ when you were a little kid, when kind words just came to you, when you could just be sweet and sincere and likable and you weren’t the bizarre facsimile of a monster you are now.

“I mean, so what if you’re scared?” you try. “Frisk is here. My mom is here. _I’m_ here. We’ll help you. Just like you helped me.”

“And what if I still can’t do it, Asriel?” they say. No nickname, you notice. “What if all the help in the world won’t help this pathetic excuse for a human deal with a tiny little…” They pause, closing their eyes. “Needle.”

“Then we’ll take you back home,” you say. “No questions asked.”

“You won’t… you won’t force me?” Chara says softly, looking straight at you.

You smile. “Of course I wouldn’t.”

“Then…” Chara says. “Then I’ll try. But no promises.”

“That’s OK.”

And you extend your paw out towards Chara. Chara wipes their eyes and takes it, and you pull them up to their feet. Frisk and your mother smile at the both of you, and Frisk takes Chara’s other hand as the three of you begin to walk out of your mother's home.

* * *

Chara seems comforted by not having to make the walk to Alphys’ lab alone. It’s not too far from your mother’s house, in the little village at the bottom of Mt. Ebott that the monsters have made into New New Home (your species is so terrible at names), but they seem relaxed.

At least, until you make it to the door of Alphys’ lab, a building that stands out like a sore thumb because it’s constructed from stark-white steel and not wood. As soon as you reach it, Chara’s grip tightens on your paw, and they start shivering - you can tell it isn’t from the cold.

You squeeze their hand back. Frisk smiles at them. Very gently, your mother takes her paw and puts it on Chara’s back, rubbing circles around it, and you’re grateful that they don’t become more upset or flinch away at her touch.

“We can do this, Chara,” you say.

“Together,” says Frisk.

“Do not be afraid, my child,” your mother says.

Chara nods. “OK. OK. I can do this.”

And, with a nod back, you reach up and knock on the door.

“Y-y-yes?” stammers a familiar voice on the other end. A camera above the door rotates to peer at you. “What can I do for… oh! Q-Queen Toriel! Y-y-your majesty!”

“Not a queen anymore, I am afraid,” your mother says, smiling up at the camera. You know from experience that she says that every time she speaks to Alphys - Alphys still hasn’t really got over that your mother is the former Queen, even after all this time. “We are here for Chara’s appointment.”

“R-right, right, of course,” says Alphys, and the door to the lab (a _normal_ door and not a massive multi-ton steel gate) swings open. Alphys smiles at Chara from the other side, though she looks just as anxious about this as they must be. “Are you r-ready, Chara?”

You squeeze Chara’s hand again. They squeeze your paw back.

“Yes,” they say. “I am.”

Alphys looks relieved. “G-good! Just come i-inside, I have everything r-r-ready.”

The three of you let go of each other’s hands and walk through the door, Chara walking in front of you, your mother behind you. You walk past a disorganized mass of discarded manga and anime DVDs, an automated vacuum cleaner (named Cleanaton) trying futilely to clean them, and the obligatory anime figure that always seems to have fallen off one of her shelves.

She really needs to take better care of her lab.

Eventually, you reach the actual lab part, where Dr. Alphys has prepared a series of syringes and bottles of vaccines.

Also standing there, in a nurse’s frock, is Undyne. For some reason.

“Yo!” she says, throwing out a mock salute.

“G-greetings,” says Chara, looking more nervous than ever. You have to wonder why on Earth Undyne is there, but it can’t possibly be for good reasons. She’s not much of a scientist.

“N-now,” Alphys says, as Chara reluctantly takes a seat in a dentist’s chair. “I’m… I’m not a licensed _human_ doctor…”

“Oh, _great,”_ says Chara, rolling their eyes.

“But I-I did build a completely functional h-human body! I think… I think I know what I’m d-doing,” she says, her apparent smugness betrayed by her stuttering.

“So you better be ready for the best shot you’ve ever had, punk!” Undyne adds.

“I _suppose_ ,” says Chara.

“I know you can do this, my child,” says your mother, smiling at them. “Do not fret.”

They don’t look reassured, so you take their hand. Frisk takes their other one.

“We’re with you,” Frisk says softly.

“Yeah, what they said,” you say.

“A-alright,” says Alphys. “According to my r-research, first we need to s-swab your arm with a-alcohol to prevent i-i-infection.”

“Yes,” says Chara, obviously annoyed with this whole thing. You feel their pulse quicken in their fingers. “I _know._ Please just get it over with. _”_

“Yes, of c-course,” says Alphys. She takes a cotton swab and rubs it against Chara’s forearm. They don’t giggle at the sensation, the way you almost did. Their pulse just gets faster, their hand tightening against your paw.

Then Alphys takes one of the syringes and fills it with liquid. Chara watches her like a Loox, their grip tightening so hard that it begins to actually hurt.

“Here we g-go,” says Alphys, walking up to them.

“No,” they say, suddenly, sharply.

“N-no?” Alphys repeats, confused.

“No, I won’t,” says Chara, their breath quickening. “I won’t… I can’t… I _will not._ Get that thing away from me _now_.”

Alphys looks nervous. “B-but, Chara, you need…”

She takes a single step closer, which is a huge mistake.

“ _No!”_ Chara screams, startling everyone. They suddenly try to pull their hands away from you and Frisk, tugging at your arms.

“U-Undyne!” shouts Alphys. “H-help!”

Undyne jumps into action, and you know what she’s about to do. She’s about to hold Chara down - to force them to take this shot. You imagine them screaming and yelling and crying, trying their hardest to fight back against Undyne regardless of how impossible it is.

“No, please!” you shout at Undyne. “Just wait! I can calm them down!”

Undyne looks confused. “B-but Alphys…”

“It’ll just make things worse! Trust me! I know them better than anyone else!”

And Undyne backs away. Alphys continues holding the syringe, looking extremely nervous.

“Chara,” you say, as Chara continues wrestling with you and Frisk’s arms. Frisk stares at you both, looking unusually scared for them. You can’t see your mother from where you are, but you imagine she feels completely out of her depth. “Chara, please listen to me.”

“You promised… you _promised_ you wouldn’t force me…” Chara says, squirming in the chair.

“And I’m not. OK? I’m not,” you say. “Just… listen to my voice. Listen to me talk.”

Chara smirks. “You… you think that’s going to work on _me?”_

“Remember when we were kids?” you say, giving them the firmest look you can muster. “I mean, we _are_ kids, but I mean, you know, little kids. Remember when we had the ceremony to announce that you were part of the Underground?”

“I… yes, I remember,” Chara says. They stop squirming, but there’s still an intensity in their eyes, a franticness, that tells you they could start again at any moment.

“You were so scared. There were monsters everywhere, strangers everywhere, and you didn’t think you could do it. You had a panic attack.”

Chara breathes heavily. “What’s your point?”

You want to say _Alphys has it,_ but you refrain. That would definitely make things worse. “You did do it. You walked through all those monsters, and you came to my family, and my dad…” You try not to glance at your mother. “I mean, Asgore… he lifted you on his shoulders. I don’t know if it was for you, but… it was one of the best days of my life.”

You smile at them. “You’re really brave, Chara. I know you’re scared, but… I know you can do this. I know you can get this shot.”

Chara’s pulse quickens again at the word “shot.” They look frantically towards Alphys, who is just standing there with the syringe, looking unsure what to do.

“I’ll hold your hand,” you say. “I’ll hold your hand, just like you held mine, just like all the times when we were kids and we were scared out of our minds.”

And they visibly relax. The tension starts to leave them, their grip on your paw becoming looser.

“OK. OK. I can do this. I can do this,” they say. “If you’re here, I can do this.”

“Wait,” says Frisk quietly.

You look towards them. So does Chara.

“I have an idea. When I took shots, I would… um, hum songs, sometimes. Or listen to music.”

And they take their cellphone out of their pocket, a pair of headphones attached to it.

“Just listen to the music,” says Frisk. “And focus on us. And it’ll be over really fast, OK?”

Chara nods. “That’s a good idea. Thank you, Frisk.”

Frisk smiles and hands Chara their cellphone, before reaching up and putting the headphones in Chara’s ears. “This is my favorite song.”

Chara makes a face. You hear peppy music coming from the headphones. “Have anything more… classical?”

“It’s a thousand years old,” says Frisk, smiling brightly.

Chara smirks. “I suppose I can’t argue with that.”

Slowly, they relax against the seat, taking your paw and Frisk’s hand again. “OK. OK, let’s do this.”

“Perhaps, my child, you should shut your eyes?” your mother suggests.

Chara does so. Slowly, Alphys walks up to them, and Chara’s pulse quickens. You don’t know what they’re thinking as they listen to the music, but it seems to be working. They aren’t having another panic attack.

Alphys, though, looks nervous. Her hands are shaking.

“You can do this, Alphy,” Undyne reassures her, and she nods.

Her hands still shaking just a small amount, Alphys walks all the way next to Chara. You gently extend their arm outwards, exposing the point she swabbed earlier to her, and Chara’s grip tightens on your paw.

Then, quickly, Alphys takes the syringe, plunges it into Chara’s arm, presses down on the plunger, and pulls it out. It happens so fast you can barely even blink, but Chara definitely noticed - they gasp sharply, their grip on your paw tightening like a vice, and their eyes shoot open.

But… it’s over.

“You did it, Chara,” you say, smiling at them.

“I knew you could, my child,” Toriel says.

“Nice job, kid!” Undyne says, looking relieved she didn’t have to do anything.

“C-congratulations!” Alphys says, smiling.

“Thank the Lord,” Chara says, taking the headphones out, “that I don’t have to listen to Frisk’s terrible K-pop anymore.”

Frisk doesn’t look offended. They just giggle. You laugh too, but only because you know Chara secretly does love bubbly pop music.

“Next time, we’ll listen to some of _my_ favorite music,” you offer.

“You mean _ska?_ Like hell I will.”

* * *

That night, the three of you cuddle up in bed together, as always - with you sandwiched between Chara and Frisk.

You can’t help but notice that Chara is acting strange though. They keep staring at the band-aid (Mew Mew Kissy Cutie brand, of course) on their arm.

“You did really good today,” you reassure them, trying not to adopt too much of a mom tone of voice. “I’m really happy for you, Chara.”

“I know,” Chara says. “I just… can’t believe that I actually did that.”

“I believe it,” says Frisk, their arms wrapped around your waist. “I knew you could.”

“But not by myself,” Chara says. “Not without you and Asriel.”

You lean forward and nuzzle your cheek against Chara’s, feeling their warmth against your fur. “It’s the least we could do.”

“We love you, Chara,” Frisk says.

You can almost feel Chara smile as they cuddle closer to you, leading Frisk to do the same thing against your back.

“I love both of you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Ivy for looking at this fic!


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